Tag: bitcoin

Binance Is Still the Top Exchange and Trans-Fee Mining Exchanges Are Gaining Market Share

Binance, a pure crypto-to-crypto exchange,

has been found to still be on top of the cryptocurrency exchange market, at a time in which exchanges using the controversial trans-fee mining model have been gaining a bigger piece of the pie. According to CryptoCompare’s December 2018 Exchange Review, Binance has managed to maintain its status as the number one crypto exchange in the ecosystem last month. The document shows that, on average, $664 million worth of cryptocurrencies changed hands on the exchange per day, for a total of $20.5 billion traded in December.

Binance was seemingly also the most visited exchange, after receiving 2.2 million visitors. Its users are currently able to trade 166 cryptos on the platform, on a total of 427 trading pairs. Behind Binance came OKEx, which traded $19.2 billion in December. While Binance, by itself, represented little over 10% of the cryptocurrency exchange market, CryptoCompare also found that exchanges using the controversial trans-fee mining model, which has been described as a “disguised ICO” revenue model, as it reimburses users’ trading fees with tokens.

Trans-Fee Mining Exchanges Gain Market Share

According to the report CoinBene, the number one cryptocurrency exchange using the controversial revenue model, traded $10.4 billion in December, followed by ZBG and EXX, which traded $5.13 billion, and $4.58 billion respectively. In total, trans-fee mining exchanges traded $23.2 billion, equivalent to 12% of the global spot trading volume, up from 7% in October. It has in the past been found that these exchanges have unusually thin order books, and a relatively low amount of traffic, taking into account the total trading volume they have. Thin order books mean these exchanges can see large price swings if their order books face large orders.

Order Book Depth Drops on Top Exchanges

Per CryptoCompare’s report, top cryptocurrency exchanges would have to, on average, face a $2.56 million sell order to see bitcoin’s price crash 10%, a figure that has dropped since November, and is lower on trans-fee mining exchanges.

The report reads:

Bitfinex, Kraken and Bitstamp maintained the most stable markets in December, while exchanges CoinBene, Bitforex, IDAX showed thin markets combined with high volumes.

It adds that on Bitfinex, where an average of $68.5 million were traded in December among its top 5 trading pairs, it would take a $9.5 million order to crash the price 10%, while on CoinBene it would take only a $13,600 order. An analysis of the crypto exchanges’ web traffic showed that these exchanges attracted “significantly lower daily visitors than similarly-sized exchanges.” CoinBene, for example, received 48,000 visitors per day, and traded $10.4 billion in December, while exchanges like Bitfinex and HitBTC with “similar high volumes” attracted over 360,000 visitors.

Article Produced ByFrancisco Memoria
News Reporter

Francisco is a cryptocurrency writer who's in love with technology and focuses on helping people see the value digital currencies have. His work has been published in numerous reputable industry publications. Francisco holds various cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin Has Jumped 82,000 Percent over the past Seven Years and Declared Dead for 91 Times in 2018

Bitcoin was declared 91 times as dead this year alone,

and 337 times so far. But despite the current bear cycle, data show that Bitcoin has grown more than 82,000 percent over the last seven years.

Bitcoin “died” 91 times in 2018

According to the website Bitcoin Obituaries, there were 91 publications in 2018 that announced the demise of Bitcoin (internationally even much more). Interestingly, even in 2017, the number was 125, the number actually increased after Bitcoin reached its all-time high of about $20,000 in December. Altogether, the black painters, according to the website, Bitcoin since 2010 for 337 times declared dead. But how dead can it be if it works around the clock with near-full availability and has been operating for over a decade now?

82,000 percent growth in the last seven years

It is true that the continued bear market has been steadily adversely affecting Bitcoin price. Bitcoin is currently trading more than 80 percent below its all-time high so far. However, if you measure Bitcoin only in terms of its price in dollars, it turns out that Bitcoin not only that is not dead but has actually grown by more than 82,000 percent in the last seven years. In addition, the basics are still intact, while other metrics, such as hash rate (network security) and layer 2 scaling solutions (such as the Lightning Network) are actually experiencing unprecedented growth.

Bitcoin acceptance is a real

Regardless of how often the black painters have announced the sinking, so does the number of investors own or use Bitcoin. Four separate studies by the Ontario Securities Commission and the Central Bank of Canada show that three to five percent of Canadians own Bitcoin.

Another survey conducted by the market research institute YouGov revealed that up to nine percent of British residents own the cryptocurrency, while 90 percent have since heard of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. In addition, the state of Ohio accepts Bitcoin for tax payments. And for what is supposed to be “dead”, over $410 billion was transacted in 2018 over the Bitcoin network or an average of $13,000 per second (despite its falling value). After all, this is not the first time the cryptocurrency has suffered 80 percent loss. However, as it turns out, Bitcoin came back every time and reached an even higher level.

Article Produced ByVidrih Marko

I love writing, and that is why I do it. A passion for not only providing the information but for helping people understand.

Your Bitcoin is Worth $15,000 to Us

Markethive has made a very bold statement.

We are so confident in this year, regardless of the crypto bear markets, the massive ICOs failures, the compounding Government regulations, the incessant attacks by the financial elite and the pounding of the negative media attention, that Markethive is laying it on the line. Even one of my mentors Tom Lee who is most outspoken and positive regarding Bitcoin is being slammed and called Dubious. Many critiques are predicting the total demise of Bitcoin. I disagree, but then I could be wrong.

This is why I am claiming and giving Bitcoin value of $15,000 for the purchase of one of our ILPs which are valued at $15,000. I think Thomas Lee is brilliant and correct in his assessment that even though the market has degraded Bitcoin it holds a greater value than we realize.

We have been in a long pre-launch crowdfunding mode since April 2018. We have raised over $500,000 since we started Markethive and have been able to build the most advanced Inbound Marketing platform (rooted in my previous 20 year company Veretekk) integrated into a powerful comprehensive social network. Now we are building a series of integrated commerce platforms. An open service freelance platform, a media oriented (video, audio, copy, animation, production services) platform and a crypto | fiat exchange and platform.

Since we began the automated marketing tech platforms back in the mid-90s called Veretekk (the first Inbound Marketing Platform by 20 years) we built this before Google was even a thought, back when AltaVista was the dominant search solution. Here is the mission statement of Veretekk back in 2002. Sounds just like Inbound Marketing today, yes?

Inetekk's new Veretekk system has in-depth sophistication with ease of use and navigation. Basically, you use our system to build massive verified email lists to market your portfolio of free Inetekk services (ie: Free FFA lead systems, free search engine submissions, free vacation coupons, free software, free websites, free ebooks, etc. that have real value) which in turn, gets extensive prospect database profiles (like their phone numbers) into your management database (We call it your "Lead Processing Center), so you can develop "real" relationships which build your sphere of influence. This sphere of influence then enables you to build a substantial organization for "YOUR OPPORTUNITY", not OURS!

Additionally, you also build your verified email database of 1,000s of addresses allowing you to send a weekly opportunity/marketing/newsletter type of publication with your Drip Control Panel "Semi Autoresponder".

Markethive makes bold move to acquire Bitcoins

Markethive CEO makes a bold move to accept Bitcoin based on current projections as valued at $15,000 in his end of year prelaunch crowdfunding for limited ILP shares.

"We are offering you a value for your Bitcoin

of $15000 in regards to acquiring our ILPs. Regardless what the market value of Bitcoin and there are many experts predicting Bitcoin will bottom out at $2500 and even a few antagonists claiming Bitcoin is going to hit zero and disappear. We are ready to take that risk. Primarily because we have high confidence in both Bitcoin and Markethive.

This offer is by way of Bitcoin. To take us up on this offer you must send us Bitcoin. Yes, this is a limited offer, so you know what to do. In other words, beginning now in the last of 2018 and into 2019 until we have traded 100 ILPs the offer for 1 Bitcoin as payment in full for 1 ILP valued at $15,000 stands."

Thomas Lee, head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, "User adoption and Bitcoin's acceptance as an asset class are key factors that will push it higher in the future." Lee's explanation for the digression is due to last year's meteoric rally, a meltdown in the macroeconomic climate and treasury sales during initial coin offerings.

Thomas Prendergast, CEO, of the world's first Market Network on Blockchain, Markethive, adopts the same sentiments as he has noted. "Interesting parallel with Tom Lee Fundstrat co-founder and myself, we are two men with vastly different backgrounds, but both strong advocates of crypto both recognizing the damages caused by the huge expansions of the ICO crowdfunding campaigns of 2017 and particularly 2018 by people of questionable character." Thomas Prendergast and Douglas Yates, CTO, and Co-founder agree with Tom Lee's assessment regarding the actual fair value price of Bitcoin is around $14,000, hence the announcement stated above.

Thomas Prendergast Markethive CEO is often quoted saying,

"Market networks have been defined as the logical evolution of aging social networks. The SaaS and commerce platforms are integrated with the social network in Market Networks such as Markethive. Techcrunch is quoted in an article, 'Market networks will produce a new class of unicorn companies and impact how millions of service professionals will work and earn their living."

CTO and Co-founder of Markethive Douglas Yates quoted:

"In order to fund the Universal Income for entrepreneur's aspects within the realm, Markethive also adds additional revenue-producing systems. Markethive is now in its final stages of implementing the blockchain and about to deliver the first of many Infinity Airdrops of the consumer coin, to the associates of this ingenious platform. There is also the strategic partnership with the GreenHouseHives which are self-generating powerhouses, These facilities also become a decentralized data storage system for various hybrid advanced blockchains, forked from Markethive's blockchain system.Markethive is fully operational as a beta platform, the coins have been created, the blockchain is in place, and every milestone in the white paper to date has been met on time."

Investor: Bitcoin is Undervalued, Individuals Building on it Will Lead to Recovery

Over the last 48 hours, following a large loss on Christmas,

the Bitcoin price has recovered back to around $4,000. The dominant cryptocurrency, which still holds a market valuation of over $64 billion, has demonstrated wild volatility in a wide price range from $3,100 to $4,300 throughout December, struggling to recover to November levels. Last month, the cryptocurrency market was valued at around $220 billion. As of December 28, the valuation of cryptocurrencies remains at $133 billion, down $87 billion within a 30-day span.

Key to the Recovery of Bitcoin

According to Francis Pouliot, the CEO and co-founder of Bull Bitcoin, a company based in Canada, the asset will recover as individuals continue to build on top of the protocol and the infrastructure supporting the currency strengthens. Throughout the past nine years, Bitcoin has consistently survived major corrections, which on some occasions worse than the 2018 bear market, as the builders, developers, and companies prepared to support the next wave of investors and users during a market downturn.

Pouliot said:

The way I see the price of Bitcoin: there are fundamental psychological, economics and social tenants that seem to create a similar pattern. Price rises fast, crashers down but at higher ladder with the new skin in the game added as value hodlers is discovered by the market. As an investor my these focus on the tail of distribution of Bitcoin network/ecosystem participants. Top new people active with skin+soul in the game, momentum, influence, resources, commitment, ideology, full nodes, sovereignty. It is People that give Bitcoin its value.

Cryptocurrencies were not present in the past when the global market demonstrated signs of a full-blown recession, and as such, the narrative of Bitcoin as a safe haven asset is yet to be tested by the market. However, with leading economists expecting the U.S. stock market to face larger sell-offs in the first quarter of 2019 triggered by the rising Federal Reserve interest rate and the trade war between the U.S. and China, Bitcoin could serve as an alternative means of payment and long-term investment throughout the years to come. On Time Magazine, Alex Gladstein the chief strategy officer at the Human Rights Foundation,

wrote:

To be sure, Bitcoin is still a nascent technology, and doesn’t offer cutting-edge usability, speed, or privacy. But engineers are constantly working to bring those attributes to Bitcoin by building better apps and on-ramps, upgrading the base protocol, and creating new second layer technologies like the Lightning Network, which could eventually mask and dramatically scale the number of possible bitcoin transactions per second.

Risk of Future Crash Declines

Throughout the past two years, many cryptocurrency-focused hedge funds have emerged with the intent of holding onto crypto assets as a long-term investment. In the long run, Pouliot emphasized that as these hedge funds acquire tens of thousands of Bitcoin, the circulating supply of the digital asset will decline, restricting the potential amount of Bitcoin investors could buy in the public market.

filled with fresh optimism and newfound determination to make 2019 the year when cryptocurrencies take over. Having gotten their calls badly wrong for 2018, so-called experts will be hesitant to make bullish price predictions for 2019. That’s probably for the best since there are far more interesting things to focus on than price action. Here are seven trends that should dominate the cryptosphere over the next 12 months.

2018 Didn’t Play Out the Way it Was Promised

This time last year, all kinds of bold predictions were being issued for what 2018 would hold for the crypto space. In the event, the biggest trend of the year was one which few futurologists foresaw – stablecoins. 2018 will go down as the year the markets went south and ICOs died off, leaving a new wave of digital assets to shine – dollar-pegged stablecoins. Love, hate or tolerate them, there’s no denying that stablecoins were a recurring motif this year. Whether they will continue to dominate in 2019 depends to a large extent on how conventional crypto assets perform. Should the current bear market persist, or bite deeper still, stablecoins will remain ubiquitous. If more favorable market conditions return, however, stablecoins will be forced to take a back seat, leaving the following trends to joust it out in 2019.

New Privacy Protocols Will Gain Traction

With the Mimblewimble-powered Grin and Beam cranking into life, the stage is set for 2019 to be the most private year in crypto in a long time. The last few years of encroaching blockchain surveillance have stripped away a lot of the anonymity that cryptocurrency users once took for granted, but the fight back has begun. It’ll take more than a single privacy protocol to restore the imbalance of course, so it’s just as well there’s a host of privacy-minded tools set to come onstream.

Aside from the Mimblewimble coins, there’s the prospect of Bitcoin Core getting Schnorr signatures next year, which could open the door to privacy tech such as Coinjoin at some point. Before then, we’ll be seeing a lot of other pro-privacy platforms, apps and protocols gaining traction. Wasabi Wallet, a privacy-focused BTC wallet, will hoover up new users, while Ethereum may get its own take on confidential transactions courtesy of Aztec protocol. Stablecoins could get private too should Zkdai – zero-knowledge DAI transactions – become a thing. Pro-privacy projects like Dust and Loki should also make progress, while new projects such as Resistance, a privacy coin and accompanying DEX, are in the works.

STOs Will Replace ICOs

2018 was meant to be the year of security tokens until it wasn’t. That prediction can be rolled over to 2019, however, when it might just come true provided the technical and regulatory hurdles can be cleared by enough applicants. What’s beyond dispute is that 2018 killed the ICO, and no one is tipping the crowdfunded utility token model to rise again. The increased legal and compliance costs of holding an ICO, which now average around $1 million, have put paid to the vast majority of initial coin offerings.

The ICO market died off dramatically in 2018.

Amazix head analyst Jose Macedo believes the security token offering (STO) will become the standard model most crypto-based projects deploy. “While utility tokens are far from dead, what the industry has now realized is that few of these token economic models actually made sense in terms of long-term value capture,” he explains. “As a result, we’re seeing a lot of projects come to us looking for help in either launching their STOs or restructuring their ICOs as STOs,” adds Macedo.

He continues:

We’re also seeing a lot more STO infrastructure be built out in terms of quality legal, token sale platforms, book-building firms, exchanges etc … As of right now, we have about $1B worth of STOs partnered with us looking to launch in 2019.

While security token projects are poised to launch in proactive territories like Malta and Gibraltar, where regulatory frameworks have been drawn up, slower progress is expected in the U.S., where fundraising options are limited. There, the SEC will likely deem most ICOs to be issuing securities. American crypto-based projects are no closer to being granted Reg A+ approval to launch an STO, despite some, such as Gab, having filed the paperwork over a year ago.

Decentralized Credit Networks Will Take Off

Decentralized credit networks made huge strides this year in terms of infrastructure development. The tools necessary to facilitate collateralized loans, social credit and open finance have been fine-tuned and proven to work. 2019 will be when they scale up and start to serve the sort of users they were envisioned for – global citizens who’ve been excluded by the current financial system.

Crypto debt markets and credit networks will be bolstered by the growth of projects like Dharma Protocol, GEO Protocol, Nexo, and Maker DAO. Maker’s system of multi-asset over-collateralization will be emulated, having proven its robustness through extreme market volatility this year. Multi-collateral dai will see a wide range of applications in 2019, as the number of users grows with the number of assets that can be collateralized. 2018 was all about ETH, but in 2019 Maker will accept BTC, ERC20s and other crypto and non-crypto assets.

Other Trends to Expect in 2019

It’s possible that 2019 could be the year when one or more dapps finally sees mass adoption, but don’t count on it. It may also prove to be the year when the first viral blockchain game arrives. At the very least, crypto collectibles and virtual reality projects will attract fresh investment, with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) tethering them to public blockchains to facilitate the trading of digital assets. Once Decentraland’s virtual world launches in 2019, a meeting ground for all kinds of crypto games and projects will be established.

The Bitcoin Cash community will continue to find new ways to spend and receive peer-to-peer cash, while the BTC brigade will have optimism that 2019 will finally be the year when the Lightning Network proves its suitability for something more than purchasing stickers. Custodial services for institutional investors will improve, bringing new money into the crypto space (but probably not propelling crypto assets to new highs). NYSE’s Bakkt will launch, bringing physical BTC futures contracts, and there’s an outside bet the SEC might approve a bitcoin ETF. Stripped of much of the greed that characterized the dawn of 2018, and with 12 months of robust infrastructure work completed, 2019 is shaping up to be an exciting time for cryptocurrency users from all tribes, countries and continents.

Article Produced ByKai Sedgwick

Kai's been playing with words for a living since 2009 and bought his first bitcoin at $19. It's long gone. He's previously written white papers for blockchain startups and is especially interested in P2P exchanges and DNMs.

Will The Online Tech Cartels Have The Ability To Continue To Threaten Society?

A great many people fear and despise consortiums because they monopolize their markets and crush rivalry. Yet, that is only a glimpse of a larger problem of the danger they hold.

The risk that tech conglomerates pose to the democratic society is not just about the costs they impose, it's the centralization of authority, information, and command over the public sphere and their capacity to employ this control over a developing number of commercial enterprises, particularly in the framework and innovations of things to come. The organizations mentioned here work as either syndications or oligopolies in their individual fields – Google, Facebook, Uber, Airbnb, Amazon, Twitter, Instagram, Spotify. They are all integrated.

It's becoming well-known that Google, Facebook, Amazon, and others collect our data to sell ads. Google will offer you free security providing it can observe you and use your data. There are flaws in technology which does render an insecure internet, however, it can be argued that it's the most powerful engineers that are the machinators to serve their own purpose. You could say this is the business model of the internet.

Technology evolves so quickly, but there was a time when it was difficult or expensive to store our data and also because its value was minimal, however now that data storage is very inexpensive, it can all be saved. This is basically surveillance data (big data) and used by these conglomerates as it supports the advertising standard that

underpins alot of the internet.

While these companies continue to buy, sell, trade and store our personal data, it’s in danger of being stolen. What's more, as long as they utilize our data, we are in jeopardy of it being used against us.

Although, as privacy, freedom of choice and speech along with the distribution and displacement of public data become more of an issue for us as a society, many are waking up. There have been visionaries, engineers, thought leaders that have been aware of the events that have affected democracy on a global scale. People all over the world are hurting. They're scared, depressed, suppressed and confused. It's making people sick and although we live in the information age and can acquire whatever we need to know with a single click, a good many people are ignorant or in denial to what has been happening. It's also a case of who do you believe and trust!

As of the third quarter of 2018, Facebook has 2.27 billion monthly active users. These are users that have logged in over the last 30 days. All of them rely on Facebook to fulfill their needs, whether it be for personal, social or business. Imagine the magnitude of what compromised data and personal information would have on the individual and as a collective.

WHAT IS ON THE HORIZON
We are entering into a trustless technology. We are moving away from centralized authority and domination that have ruled our lives in many aspects of life, particularly the internet. We are now shifting to a decentralized method of connecting, communicating and transacting globally.

With the onset of Blockchain technology across many industries, not just crypto, also Health, Real Estate, Education and even Social/ Market Networks, creates an opportunity for people to "get off the grid" so to speak. This is the answer to our fears and uncertainty. This is being seen as a natural progression or evolution in the field of technology and the internet that we have so readily become accustomed to.

The Blockchain solves many issues we as a community are dealing with.

It offers the assurance of privacy and security by storing data, information, and activities across a network of computers, making it a decentralized distributed ledger. There is no centralized authority making rules and decisions that are not in the best interests of its clients. This allows transparency. As more industries utilize the blockchain technology the more entrenched it will become into our daily lives and we'll wonder how we ever lived without it.

This is intricate technology and really needs to be implemented at the company’s inception. If an established company with enormous stored data collected over the years tried to introduce the blockchain, the success of it operating at full capacity with stability and scalability is extremely slim. As for the monopolies out there today, like Facebook and Google, they have collected so much data it would be near impossible to merge. So it would be fair to say that the evolution of the tech industry has rendered the oligopolies outdated with very little chance to be competitive in the new era of innovation which promises to be a fairer, more independent and transparent system for all.

CONCLUSION
Blockchain has absolutely revolutionized the world and will soon give rise to a new era of the internet even more disruptive and transformative than the current one. Blockchain, or distributed ledger technology, has the capacity to produce unparalleled opportunities to create and trade value in society will prompt a generational shift in the Internet's advancement, from an Internet of Information to a new generation Internet of Value. It’s time to start embracing this niche.

Article Produced ByDeb Williams

I am a freelance writer for the Market Network and crypto/blockchain industry. I'm a strong advocate for technology, progress, change and freedom of speech.

it should be between $13,800 and $14,800. The ever-so-vocal Bitcoin bull believes that the currency is grossly undervalued and believes last year’s meteoric rise could be one of the reasons. In a note to Bloomberg today, Lee further refused to delve into his Bitcoin prediction for the year which seems quite unlikely as things stand. Earlier in the year, Lee predicted that Bitcoin would end 2018 at $25,000.

Bitcoin has seen a 5 percent drop in the past 24 hours to trade just above $3,300. In the top three Bitcoin trading platforms, BitMEX, CoinBene and Coinbit, Bitcoin was trading below $3,300. The currency is flirting with the $3,300 level again, having breached past that level on December 7 when it set a new yearly low.

Bitcoin Trading at a Fifth of Its Value

Much of the debate has centered on when Bitcoin is going to recover its former glory. This debate has been tough enough, but maybe we should be having another debate: what is the true value of Bitcoin? Tom Lee, the head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, believes it should be just below $15,000.

And he justified his assertion:

Bitcoin’s fair value, given the number of active wallet addresses, usage per account and factors influencing supply, is between $13,800 and $14,800

Well, Bitcoin is $11,500 below its ‘correct value.’ And according to Lee, the divergence in value stems from a number of issues, the first of which is its meteoric rise to record highs last year. ‘A meltdown in the macroeconomic climate and treasury sales during initial coin offerings’ are some of the other reasons there has been such a huge difference. Moving forward, a rise in user adoption and acceptance of Bitcoin as an asset class will be vital to driving the value of the currency higher, he added. If Bitcoin hits just 7 percent of the 4.5 billion Visa account holders, its fair value would be $150,000, Lee stated.

He added:

Fair value is significantly higher than the current price of Bitcoin. In fact, working backwards, to solve for the current price of Bitcoin, this implies crypto wallets should fall to 17 million from 50 million currently.

After being asked if he has scaled down his Bitcoin prediction, he replied: “We are tired of people asking us about target prices.” Lee had predicted that Bitcoin would end the year at $25,000. Following a steep decline in the currency’s value, he updated his prediction in mid-November to $15,000. While there are still two weeks left to the end of the year, it’s looking quite unlikely that Bitcoin will hit this level.

New York Bomb Threat and Bitcoin Ransom

While the currency was tumbling, it was making headlines for other reasons. According to the New York Police Department, bomb threats have been made across the country, and the people behind them were demanding for Bitcoin. Turning to its Twitter page, the NYPD advised people to ignore the threats, which were being circulated via email.

Article Produced BySteve Kaaru

I am a very awesome human. I love writing, and I am awesome at it. I am a blockchain and cryptocurrency enthusiast and championing the blockchain through well-crafted articles is what I do

Bitcoin Price ‘Could Go from Bad to Worse’: Bearish Analyst

The most potential use case of bitcoin today is the store of value.

But an analyst thinks otherwise. Stephen Innes, head of Asia Pacific trading at Oanda, a New York-based forex firm, believes that the world’s leading digital currency is due for another drop because it hasn’t provided the world a “significant use-case” yet. The Bitcoin hype, according to Innes, is far ridiculous than the one seen during the Tulip mania bubble.

Since its all-time high at $19,500, bitcoin has plunged more than 80% this year. Since mid-November itself, the digital currency has noted a 48.5% fall owing to specific macroeconomic crypto factors. Just recently, it established a new yearly low near $3,200, which is 83.5% lower than its good days’ peak. “It’s has been a disastrous year for cryptos,” Innes explained, “and by all indication, the current bear market could go from bad to worse with no fundamental or underlying reasons to buy BTC even more so when the only support offered up is a squiggly line on an analyst chart.”

A History Lesson

Either bitcoin cannot be anything. Or, it can be everything.

The digital currency upon its introduction in 2008 posed itself as an alternative payment system that raised its stakes against the popular payment mechanisms. True, bitcoin was much faster, cheaper and totally decentralized than any of its traditional counterparts. But its evolution brought several use cases on the sideways. Sooner, bitcoin was more than a payment mechanism. To some, it was a tradable asset; and to some, it was a currency of underground online marketplaces. The characteristics of bitcoin changed with every user. But, in a larger context, the digital currency remained a multifaceted technology.

Innes is right in pointing out that bitcoin hasn’t offered the world a significant use-case yet, because all succumbed to only one thing: price volatility. Had bitcoin been lesser volatile than it usually is, the digital currency could gain more trust as a payment medium, more so as a store of value. But aren’t we judging it too early, especially when we can always look back at the chapters of other assets that achieved stability only after a considerably long time? Let’s talk about Gold.

In 1971, when the President Nixon government ousted Gold from being the global value standard and replaced it with the US Dollar, the mighty fiat reserve with an infinite supply, the commodity experienced a period of huge volatility. In 1974, the gold bullion rose 73% against the US Dollar but lost 25% of its gains in the very next year. Another instance is rooted in the year 1981 when gold lost 33% of its value after witnessing a 121% pump prior to the fall.

How is bitcoin any different, you decide. The naysayers do not want to define it as a store of value, expecting that it should remain steady to be one. But they shouldn’t forget that older definitions cannot describe the characteristics of newer assets. Bitcoin, for all its technological issues, is still more likely to attain the status of a store of value, given its volatility goes down as people hold it more often than lose it on the first selling sentiment. And, at the same time, its appreciation should slow down after a rapid pump.

That’s how Gold behaved. And that is how bitcoin is acting in its current state. Then again, does Gold have a use case? Only 10% of it was used for industrial purposes. Get more info on this amazing Quora thread.

For much of the year, the bitcoin mining industry appeared to be impervious

to the crypto market downturn, as the flagship cryptocurrency’s hash rate continued to climb even as the BTC price halved — and then halved again. In recent weeks, however, cracks have begun to form in this sector as well.

Bitcoin Hash Rate Drops as Miners Turn off Older Devices

Earlier this month, Bitcoin network difficulty, which adjusts dynamically every 2,016 blocks (a roughly two-week interval) in response to hash rate fluctuations, fell by 15.1 percent — its second-largest drop in history and the greatest since Oct. 2011. Just one period earlier, BTC difficulty declined by 7.4 percent, which was the most significant drop in nearly six years. While this does not, as some bears have suggested, mean that bitcoin has begun a death march, it does demonstrate the extent to which the downturn has begun to put the squeeze on miners with higher costs and thinner profit margins, many of whom had anticipated a crypto market that would look very different heading into 2019.

According to BitMEX Research, the Bitcoin hash rate has declined by more than 31 percent since the beginning of November, which is the equivalent of 1.3 million Antminer S9 miners being switched off completely. CCN previously reported that while miner overhead varies wildly based on the size of the operation, energy costs, and other factors, the market decline had hastened the obsolescence of older miner models such as the Antminer S7, which for most users are now little more than expensive paperweights.

Miner Revenue Falling Faster Than Bitcoin Price

Notably, the recent market sell-off has hurt miners even more than ordinary investors. BitMEX Research estimates that cumulative bitcoin mining revenue has declined to $6 million per day at the start of December from $13 million at the start of November, outpacing the bitcoin price’s already-steep decline.” The reason for this is that because network difficulty adjusts at set intervals rather than in real time, a hash rate drop will reduce the number of found blocks until the beginning of the next difficulty adjustment.

As the report explained:

“In the six-day period ending 3rd December, 21.8% fewer blocks than the expected 144 per day were found, as miners left the network before the difficulty adjusted, and as a result, fewer blocks were found. Therefore in the short term, there was a 21.8% fall in mining incentives on top of the impact of the declining price.”

At this point, BitMEX Research estimates that almost all cryptocurrency miners — regardless of scale and overhead — are operating at a loss, though some may have hedged profits or at least trimmed losses by shorting the bitcoin price throughout the year.

Not a ‘Death Spiral’

According to some analysts, this likely means that Bitcoin has entered the outer ring of a “death spiral,” wherein it endures a vicious cycle of miners turning off their machines before the difficulty can adjust lower, preventing the network from processing blocks at regular, 10-minute intervals and further prolonging the interval between difficulty adjustments. Thankfully, as Andreas Antonopoulos recently explained, these ominous predictions fail to account for the fact that most miners are heavily invested in the cryptocurrency industry and thus operate with a long-term perspective that recognizes they may have to temporarily mine at a loss in pursuit of greater profits in the future.

“Part of the reason that’s unlikely to happen is that miners have a much more long-term perspective, meaning that they have existing investments in equipment and they usually purchase electricity on long-term plans, they don’t pay it by the week,” he said. “And therefore, if they have to wait to become profitable another three months and they have the equipment in place, they’re not turning it off.” Consequently, the mining industry’s current struggles shouldn’t have any long-term impact on Bitcoin itself, though that doesn’t make things any easier for the individual cryptocurrency mining firms that must navigate this increasingly rocky landscape.